Composer: Shio Tepper
Collaborators/Dancers: Ariel Clarke, Piper Makenzie Dye, Alex Rix
Understudy: Bryaunna Kostelnik
Live Music Performance by: Camille Schiess (violin) and Shio Tepper (piano)
As if everything was perfect, directed and choreographed by Gianna Burright, confronts the pressure women carry and the constant negotiation between compassion and guilt.
A character-driven embodiment of a woman’s internalized sense of responsibility, As if everything was perfect centers women’s oscillation between having compassion for past, current, and future versions of themselves and extreme guilt. Humor, surreal imagery, and sharp physicality move through memories, fantasies, imagined futures, colliding with the push and pull of expectation: too much, too little, too early, too late. Brooms function as both metaphor and partner, unearthing domestic labor, discipline, and the weight of responsibility. Joy and despair sit side by side as this performance work, scored by Shio Tepper, lingers in contradiction, complexity, and the many shades of gray, inviting audiences into a layered emotional landscape.
As if everything was perfect was developed, in part, during a Baryshnikov Arts Center Residency.
Support for the development and presentation of this work is provided in part through the James and Martha Duffy Fund.
All details subject to change.
Gianna Burright (Director/Choreographer) is a choreographer, dancer, and educator who explores emotional extremes: happiness and sadness, grief and euphoria, rage and mindfulness, nightmares and dreams through movement. A self-proclaimed late bloomer, she has had the opportunity to work with acclaimed organizations through programs such as a Baryshnikov Arts Residency, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Create Summer Program, Jacob’s Pillow Ann and Westin Hicks Choreography Fellowship, Kennesaw State University Choreographic Residency, Carmel Dance Festival Choreography Fellowship, Dance Gallery Festival Ardsley Residency. Burright has presented choreographic work in fifteen countries including at iconic venues such as The Bonnie Byrd Theater, The Place, Turner Contemporary Gallery, Waterloo East Theatre, STEPS, the International Edinburgh Fringe Festival, The Odyssey Theater, LA Theatre Center, and LA Dance Project.
Burright is an educator who works with dancers and movers of all ages and abilities, including working in the K–12 school system and university settings. She aims to create understanding through sensory experiences, articulation and vocabulary (verbally and physically), awareness, joy, sadness, connection, and listening. Burright holds a BFA in Dance from UCSB and an MFA in Choreography from Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance.
Photo by Stephen Cummings.